Hidden Lives
by soft N' fluffy
Summary: Lily and James broke up when they were 20 years old. 15 years later, will James find out the secret that Lily has been keeping from him all this time? rating will change later. Extremely AU.
1. the beginning

**A/n this is sort of like another 1 of my fics, called "the joys of discoveries", but there is 1 main difference, in later chapters. Hope you like it. I give you hidden lives. **

"Ugh, you make me so mad sometimes, James Potter!" lily yelled at the top of her lungs. "Yeah, well, that still doesn't mean that this whole thing was my fault!" James yelled back. Lily could feel the tears spill from her bright green eyes, no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. They had been fighting a lot lately. She always felt like it was her fault, but she never really knew what she did wrong.

"Well, I'm so sorry! I had no idea that you felt that way!" James glared at her for a moment after she said that, then practically whispered "well, maybe we don't belong together anymore".

Lily couldn't believe what she was hearing. Sure, they had fought before, but they always made up. After all the times he had said that he loved her, it was all going to be over for 1 of the stupidest things. The tears came pouring down like a waterfall now.

"Well" she said quietly "if that's the way you want it." She turned around and ran to her room, slamming the door shut, even though she was sure that the neighbors would complain later. She leaned with her back to the door as the worst of the tears started. How could this happen, they had been together since they were in Hogwarts. He had even proposed to her. She took 1 last look at the ring before getting up to flush it down the toilet. Hearing the toilet flush made her sick to her stomach, and she threw up, another thing that she had done a lot of lately.

Meanwhile, James was sitting in the middle of the living room with his head in his hands. 'What have I done now? How could I have done such a thing?' he thought to himself. Not only did he just break up with his girl friend, but he ruined their wedding plans and kicked himself out of the apartment.

James picked up the phone and dialed Sirius's number. "Hello" he heard Sirius say on the other line. "Hi, this is James. Listen, Sirius, I've got a huge favor to ask of you." James started off. "Yeah, sure, anything." Sirius told him. James sighed. "Lily and I just broke up; can I stay the night at your house? I've only got Remus left, and he can hardly afford to take care of himself, much less me. So, can I stay?"

"Sure, prongs. Anytime. Do you need help packing your stuff?" Sirius asked, sympathetically. "Yeah, that'd be great."

"Alright, I'll be right over." With that, Sirius hung up the phone.

2 days later, James was all packed and lily had still not come out. Sirius and James were moving out the last boxes. James went up to knock on lily's door to give her the extra key back.

Lily opened the door after a few minutes. Her hair was a mess and

Her eyes were blood shot. There were tear stains running down her face and she looked as though she had not slept in days. "Yes" she asked. Her voice was terribly hoarse. "Uh, I came to give you the key." She nodded and held out her hand to catch the key in. he dropped it into her hand and made for the door.

Sirius smiled at lily. "Don't worry, lily, he'll be back begging for your forgiveness before you know it." He said once he knew James couldn't hear. "I hope so." Lily replied in a whisper. Sirius nodded and hugged her good bye. "I hope this won't be the last time I get to see you again." He said before turning to go.

As soon as she heard the front door shut, she fell to the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees, rocking herself back and forth, crying harder then she ever had before.

James was living at Sirius's house, and he felt heartbroken. The worst part about it was, he knew it was his fault, but he knew that lily would never take him back. It just wouldn't happen.

All James had done since they had broken up was mope around the house, whishing that he could change the past. But it would never happen. Remus and Sirius had tried numerous times to get him to go to lily's house to kiss and make up, but every time, James would walk up to the door, ring the door bell, then chicken out and leave just before lily would open the door.

Lily continued getting sick for along time after the break up. So, she, like any person would, went to the doctor. 10 days later, they called her back saying that she was pregnant.

"You're kidding me, right?" she told the doctor when they called her back. "I'm afraid that, as doctors, we're not aloud to joke about these things. Yes, you are pregnant, but if you choose not to believe us, I suggest a pregnancy test and…" but the rest of what the person on the other end of the line lily never knew, because she had slammed down the phone and raced down the street to the grocery store down the street.

Indeed, the doctors were proving to be right, as the test proved positive.

Lily was curled up in a ball in the corner of her bathroom. This couldn't be happening. Not now, of all times, it just couldn't be. So, she did what most teenagers would do, she went crawling to 1 of her dearest friends for advice. Lily had called all of her friends, but the only 1 that wasn't at work was Amanda Miller.

They agreed to meet at the nearest coffee shop.

"Oh my god, are you being serious?" Amanda asked when lily told her. "Oh, Amanda, I'd give anything to be lying to you, but I'm not. What do you think I should do?" lily said, on the verge of tears. "Well, do you plan on telling James? Well, if it's his, I mean?" lily looked shocked at her friend. "Of course its James's baby, what do you think I am a hoe?" Amanda shrugged. "No, I was just asking, that's all. Anyway, are you going to tell him? You should." Lily nodded vigorously. "No way am I going to tell him! He doesn't deserve to know, after what he did!" Amanda sighed at lily's stubbornness. "Well, are you just afraid to tell him?" lily looked sad. "Yes, I guess I am. But I still don't want to tell him."

"You could write to him and tell him that way." "No way," lily started. "You don't just write to people telling the 'oh, I know that we broke up, I just thought that you ought to know, I'm pregnant'. If I did that, he'd try to come and find me."

"But isn't that a good thing? I mean, if he found you, then you could get back together, and the wedding wouldn't be called off." Lily sighed. "He wouldn't want to get back together with me. Sure, he might want to know about his child, but we could never be together again. And, incase you don't remember, my parents divorced before I was born. Sure, my dad knew that I existed, but he last time I saw him was when I was 2 years old. I don't want to put any of my children trough that."

Amanda and Lily thought for a minute. Then Amanda thought "well, if you're not going to tell him, do you mean to say that you're going to raise this thing on your own?" Amanda asked. "Well, no, I don't want to do it on my own, but what choice do I have," lily said, miserably. "Honestly, I'd do anything to not have to see a living reminder if James ever day for the rest of my life." Lily sighed. "What do you think I should do?"

"Well, I already told you, you should tell James. But, if you don't like that, you could always put it up for adoption."

Lily considered this. "But where would I go if I wanted to put it up for adoption?" Amanda smiled. "My sister works for an adoption center not to far from here. I bet she'd be glad to help you."

Lily got up to leave. "Thank you so much, Amanda. You've been a life saver. You'll let me know what your sister says, right?" Amanda smiled. "Sure. I'll see you later."

It was 6 months later **(A/n last time we checked up with lily, she was 2 months pregnant, so now it'll be 8 months) **and it was very obvious that lily was going to have a baby soon. She had gotten a letter from Christine Miller, Amanda's sister, saying that she had found parent that lived about 50 miles from where lily lived. Lily had found out that the baby was a boy, and the family that was going to adopt him said that she should name him so that she would be able to find him when he was older. Lily decided to name him Harry. Harry James … whatever his last name would be.

Lily had a few more weeks until she could get off work, so she was trying to work extra hard so that she would be able to pay the rent for her apartment while she was out. Most nights, though her boss, Joanna McElfish, told her not to, she would work the night shift. The only part that she didn't like about that was that she remembered that that was the shift James had worked.

If they were not both Aurors, then that would not be a problem, but they were, so it was a very big problem. Lily always had to be on her toes so that he would never see her, which had never happened yet, but she had had some close calls. Every time she saw him, her stomach would go into knots, and her heart would ache. Joanna, who did not let the fact that she was lily's boss stop her from being very good friends with lily, had moved lily to an office on the other side of the room from where James's cubical was** (A/n lily gets an office because she and Joanna get along better then Joanna and James) **but there were still some times when lily would see James.

James had just sat through another long meeting with his boss and was not in a good mood, so he went to visit Sirius. They were talking for a few minutes when Sirius pointed out "hey, isn't that lily over there?" James turned around so fast that he hurt his neck doing it.

There she was, talking to a friend with a cup of coffee in her hand. She had a smile on her face and was laughing at something the person had said. It took James a minute to notice, but she looked different, somehow. Was it a new haircut? No, her hair was longer then it was the last time he had seen her. Had she lost weight? 'No, that's not it, if anything, she's gained weight' James thought to himself. "Padfoot am seeing what I think I'm seeing, or has lily just gained weight?" Sirius just shook his head. "No James, I mean, I wouldn't know, but if I'm right, then I think she's pregnant." James felt his jaw drop so that he was gaping stupidly.

"I guess that means that she's moved on." James mumbled as he ran turned his back to her. He hardly said anything the rest of the day.

**Well, that's the first chapter. The next chapter will be where Harry is born, so please read and review!**


	2. The Hidden Life

**A/n thank you to all of my reviewers! Most of them were good, but there were 2 that were not so good. I won't name names, but if you could tell me why you hate it so much, I can work to change it. I won't take down this story, though, because I got more good reviews then bad ones. Oh yeah, I got a review saying that the grammar was not so good. That's my computer's fault; it's been pretty screwed up since we changed the internet. **

**Legit: **Thank you, I hope that this update was fast enough for you.

**Elizia:** Cool! I'll have to read your fic, it sounds good.

**Ashley: **Thank you, I updated as fast as I could!

**apotterlover**: Thank you, this chapter got a whole lot of reviews for only a first chapter. That keeps up the motivation.

**Shang Warrior Phoenix: **Whenever I type in lily, for instance, my computer usually thinks that I mean the plant, because the name is usually spelled Lilly, so I have to capitalize it myself. It gets to be a pain after typing Lily… Lily… Lily over and over again.

**Pinkharry: **ok, I'll have to update quickly, this got a lot more reviews then I had expected.

**KTSweep08: **Yeah, that's the chapter everyone's waiting for, but we've got to get to some other things, first.

**TTomyoLover: **Thank you, I hope that this was a fast enough update. I'm going to try to update everyday, but homework limits my time.

**prinsessavg: **yes, it is sad that she puts Harry up for adoption, but I've always been one for drama, and it doesn't end up happening, so I thought I'd put people in suspense until this chapter came out. Someone even flamed me, though, so that's the last time I do that!

**Zaliee: **Aww, that's too bad, I hope you get more reviews for your fic, it was good.

Yes, James doesn't know about his own baby, but by the time he finds out, Harry won't be a baby anymore.

**Gred and Forge Wealsey: **Well, Lily was supposed to put him up for adoption, but there's a change in plans. Read and find out. Oh yeah, I love your pen name!

**SeriousSiriusFan: **Yes, Harry does end up going to Hogwarts, and no, the Grangers do not end up adopting him. That would make an interesting fic, though.

**Ash: **THANK YOU! You are the only person who guessed what was going to happen and got it right! If I had a prize to give you, and if I knew how to give it to you, I would, but I don't so I can't. That makes no sense. Oh well, I'm a very confusing person.

**Runaway Spirit: **That was so cool; I was just writing the second chapter when I got your review. I hope that this was a fast enough review for you, it should be. Anyways, I love your pen name.

**Wow, that's more reviewers for 1 chapter that I've ever had. sniff, sniff I feel so loved. Lol, ok, now, where was I? Oh yeah, I bring you, hidden lives, chapter 2.**

**Hidden Lives**

**The life to be hidden**

It was 2 weeks before Lily's due date. Everything was set; all that was left was for the baby to actually be born. And, in Lily's point of view, that was never going to happen. She, for some reason, was very nervous about the adoption. She had never told anyone, but she didn't know why she should if it was all decide.

The feeling only continued to get worse as the due date got closer, so she finally decided to talk to Joanna about it, since she was adopted when she very little.

They had been in a meeting when Lily finally brought it up. For some reason, Joanna had been very upset when Lily told her.

"You mean that you're going to put him up for adoption?" Joanna asked. This really started to confuse Lily. "Well, yeah. I thought I told you." Joanna shook her head.

"You can't really mean that you're going to put your son up for adoption?" Lily rolled her eyes at her friend. "I thought we just went through this. Yes, I am adopting him. I can't possibly take care of him"

"Well, why not? I mean, you were the best witch in your year, and you're the most independent person that I know." Joanna persuaded.

"I know that, Joanna, but this isn't taking care of myself, this is taking care of me and a living being that requires more care then I do. I just can't force myself through taking care of something that reminds me so much as James without him there. You do understand, don't you?"

Joanna sighed. "Lily, you know just as well as I do that I was adopted before I could even have any memories of my real parents, but you don't know how I feel about that. **(A/n aww, it's time for a feelings moment! Ok, don't get me wrong, I was no adopted, so neither I nor Lily would know what it's really like. My dad did, however, tell me that I was he picked me up off a bandwagon of gypsies. I was 5 then, and an idiot, so I believed him. I'm so stupid. But, to the point, I'm not trying to offend anyone, but if I am, please tell me and I can change this. I'm going by what my friend told me, because she was adopted. Hmm, I wonder what her name is? Think, think, think, hmm, was it, maybe… Joanna?) **Well, when I was little, all I had of my birth parents was a mental image of what they were supposed to look like. They had put me up for adoption because they were only in collage when I was born (A/n her birth parents were muggles).

"When I was older, I had realized that they had been old enough, they just hadn't wanted me. You don't want Harry to think that, do you?" Joanna looked sadly at Lily.

"Of course I don't want him to think that, but I'm tired enough just trying to take care of myself, I can't do that for the rest of my life, can I?"

Joanna sighed. "Well, just promise me that you'll reconsider?"

"Oh, alright. Well, I'm going on lunch break." And with that, Lily left the office.

She really didn't want Harry to grow up thinking that she didn't love him, but if she did grow up living with Lily, he would know that he didn't have a father that loved him. And Lily couldn't even bare the thought of that.

It was Lily's due date. She was lying in a hospital bed, and she had been for about 3 hours. It was taking so long; it was as though her baby was trying to stall as long as it could.

A half an hour and many screams of "I HATE JAMES POTTER!" Lily was finally holding her baby. He had black hair, as Lily had guessed he would, and blue eyes **(A/n all babies have blue eyes when they are born, and they usually change. If you have a complaint, make it out to my cousin. He's a nurse; he's the one that told me that)**. He was sleeping like, well, a baby, as most babies tend to do. He had soft skin and a sweet cry, even if it was loud. Lily loved him already.

She held him for hours, just rocking him and talking to him. He listened to everything she said, and, although he couldn't talk back, or even understand what she was saying, it comforted Lily.

She knew now that Joanna had been right, she couldn't give him up. He fit in her arms to perfectly for her to never be able to hold him again.

The only question was, was it too late to be saying this? Or would the people that Harry would be going to be the understanding type? Would they understand that Lily was the type of person that would believe it when she saw it? Well, Lily had seen it, and she was just starting to think that, if she couldn't have James, but if she at least had Harry, things might be okay. They'd never be what they could've been if James had stuck around, but they'd be okay. That was better then heartbroken.

The family that would be taking Harry came the next day. Lily had stayed up all night, just watching Harry, wondering if this would be the last time she would see him again before he was older.

The family, or, the Rickersons, was a very nice family, in Lily's opinion. The only problem was, they were a muggle family. If they were going to keep the baby, Lily would have to explain everything from the fact that Harry would be able to break anything fragile if they made him mad, to the directions on how to get to diagon alley.

'That' Lily thought 'is not something I want to do today.'

The family was of a single mother, Merrideth, and her 2 children, Colleen and Martha. They were nice people, but, Harry would most likely hate Lily for letting him live in an all girl family. That or he'd be gay.

They got into a conversation about something or another, Lily wasn't really listening, when she finally decided to bring up the topic.

Ms. Rickersons had been babbling about what type of outfits she would but Harry, or something like that, when Lily finally interrupted and said "Ms. Rickerson, I know that you've been planning to adopt Harry for months now, and I'm sure that you've got everything ready at home, so don't get me wrong, I'm not leading you on, and changing my mind at the last minute, but… may I keep Harry? I mean, my boyfriend broke up with me before I even knew about Harry, and it still hurts, but he looks just like James, and I think it might help ease the pain if I could have him. It would mean so much to me if..."

Luckily, Lily didn't have to say anymore, because Ms. Rickerson nodded, saying that there are other fish in the sea, and she got up and left, her daughters quarreling behind her.

Had lily not been lying down at the time, she would have jumped for joy. Harry was her son, hers now and forever. She wouldn't be lonely anymore. No more nights alone, wishing for the past to somehow change. No more crying herself to sleep. She couldn't she had to be brave. She had to set an example.

A few days later, Lily was preparing herself to take Harry home from the hospital. Now that she was keeping Harry, she needed all of the necessities. Since she had not been expecting to take a baby home with her after this, she had not bought anything.

When she got home, Lily realized that she had not been expecting to bring home a baby, so she had none of the necessities that were required for taking care of a baby. "Well, little guy, I guess that means that we need to go shopping." She told Harry when she got home.

**Next chapter: **

**Harry's first word**

**The first Wealsey encounter**

**Harry asks why he doesn't have a dad**

**Well, that's it for the second chapter. I hope you liked it, please review!**


	3. Those who care can be found

**Wow, that was cool. I've never had so many encouraging reviews! Anyway, sorry for the delay, I normally would have updated earlier, but my high school basketball team has been undefeated, which has never happened in the existence of me, my friend got sick, I had tests, and I went to this play that my friend was in. for those of you who don't already know, Shakespeare is very funny, but he's also a very big pervert. The last line of "taming of the shrew" is "come, let us go to bed", and yes, it was meant to be what you think I mean. But, that's probably not very important to you guys, so here are the review replies. **

**KTSweep08: **uh huh, sure you knew that that was going to happen. Right.

**WritingsOfATeenageDramaQueen: **aww, poor you, homework sucks.

**apotterlover: **thank you. Like most fics, it gets better as it gets longer.

**Elizia: **thank you! Sure I'll help you. When I published the first chapter of hidden lives, I forgot how to add a new story, which is different from updating, so it took me forever to figure out. You probably already found help, but if you still need it, then let me know in your review, and I'll email you.

**Zaliee: **I think it's safe enough to say that everyone's glad that she didn't adopt him off; I know that I am!

**Runaway Spirit: **sorry about the author's notes, it's a habit that I'm trying to break. I guess it's because I love to talk, and since I can't actually talk on the computer, I use author's notes to use my voice. You see, I talk WAY too much for my own good, just ask my teachers!

**Serlene: **thank you! I was going to end this chapter differently, but I thought that this fit really well.

**Lala: **aww, shucks, you didn't need to say that, not that I'm not glad that you did! I'm glad that you like my fic. I like your fic; I like your pen name!

**Shang Warrior Phoenix: **THANK YOU! Someone who understands that grammar isn't everything.

**Aelotia: **thank you I like your pen name. It's very mystic! Does it mean something?

* * *

Hidden Lives 

Those who care can be found

* * *

Lily had hardly managed to get much without going over her budget (she could hardly pay the rent for her apartment, most times). All she managed to get was a portable crib and a stroller, along with all of the other necessities that are required for a baby (diapers, bottles, ect, you get the point). She had finally gotten all of the stuff arranged in her apartment so that she could move (her apartment was tiny) when Joanna stopped by to see Harry.

**

* * *

A year later**

Lily was still living in her itty bitty apartment with a growing baby. Having Harry had kept her from crying at night, and it kept her from thinking of James, but it had still left the emptiness. Harry was getting bigger, and not to long ago, he had learned and had taken to tearing the apartment to pieces. So, now, Lily was working a full time job to support them both, which was getting exhausting, because she had to bring him to work with her, not having enough money to hire a baby sitter. She was still living in her apartment that she could barely afford to pay for. She still had the same job, which she loved, but she still would see James from time to time, so she'd have to hide Harry whenever he came around. The only problem was, now that Harry had use of his legs, he would not always be where Lily had left him. They had had several close calls where Harry almost ran straight in to James had one of Lily's friends not turned the corner at the last minute and picked him up before he could be seen.

* * *

Life for Lily was now becoming a nightmare. It was the busy as could be, and, with Harry walking, he should get anywhere in the ministry while Lily's back was turned. Whenever this happened, of course, Lily would have to chase after him, which would draw her away from her work. In the end, she'd get less work done because she'd been hunting Harry down, so she'd get less on pay day. It was a cycle, more or less.

* * *

One particularly tiring day, Lily was sleeping at her desk when she someone shook her awake. She looked up to see James staring down at her. "Lily, Joanna needs you to have…" 

Startled, she started to look for Harry, to hide him, so that James wouldn't see him, but he wasn't in his office. She began tearing apart her office in search while James continued to talk, but Harry wasn't there. She ran out of her office, looking down the halls, not noticing that James was yelling after her, but Harry was nowhere within the Aurors' offices. She ran through the floor, opening doors, turning over tables, running into people's offices that she didn't even know, but he wasn't anywhere she looked. Finally, after checking numerous floors, she reached the lobby, where she finally saw the small mass of black hair through the large amounts of people who were trying to get home. She ran after him, and just barely had his hand in hers when Lily ran into a man carrying a huge stack of loose parchments, knocking them to the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention… I was trying to catch up with my son and…" she stuttered. She looked up to see the man she had crashed into holding Harry in his arms, trying to get him to calm down. The man, she recognized, was Arthur Weasley. "Oh, that's quite alright, this is the worst time, when they've just learned to walk, you can never turn your back on them or they run away at first chance." He said, smiling.

'Well, you'd certainly know,' she thought to herself. From what she had heard, Mr. Weasley had 6 children, twins included. "Yes, it's been worse then ever lately. I can't work because I have to follow Harry everywhere, and I can't follow Harry everywhere because I have to work! I almost never have any time to do anything but run after him. Even at home; he gets away, which is almost scary, because it's almost impossible to get around my apartment, much less run away."

"You do look exhausted. Can't he at least stay home with someone some days?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Oh, I'd be singing the halleluiah chorus if I could, but I'm the only one who can take care of him at home, and I can't afford to hire a babysitter, so nope. No one to watch him but me." Lily told him. She, of course, didn't want anymore people glaring at her the way most did when they saw her walking by with Harry alone, so she left out the part with James dumping her.

"Oh, that must be hard. Lily, isn't it? Lily Evans?" he questioned. Lily nodded. "Lily, I'm sure that must be hard, taking care of Harry by yourself. Would you come over for dinner with my family? You look like you could use it."

Lily looked at Mr. Weasley as though he had just told her that the world was coming to an end; jaw dropped and everything. Had she just been invited to dinner? To not have to grab Harry, drag him home, feed the both of them, then spend the last 3 hours of the day trying to get him to calm down and sleep through the night was almost as good as knowing that she would, somehow, be back together with James one day.

"Well, I don't want to impose or anything…" she started to say, but Mr. Weasley shooed it off. "Oh, nonsense, we always have room for guests; you wouldn't be imposing! Please, I'm sure that you could use the break, and my family would be happy to actually know someone that wasn't a sibling, so I'm sure they won't mind. I must warn you, though, the twins tend to be a bit loud, so do beware." He said, turning to one of the fireplaces where people were flooing home to their homes.

Mr. Weasley walked into one of the fireplaces, said "the burrow", and disappeared in the flames. Lily muttered "the burrow" and was covered in flames.

**

* * *

At the burrow**

Mrs. Weasley had welcomed Lily and Harry with warmth that Lily knew could only come from mothers who know what they're doing; one thing that Lily greatly admired, as she knew nothing in that category.

The first thing Lily noticed upon entry at the Weasley's was that she fit in very well. Every single one of the Wealsey children had hair so red that it could stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd. Also, they all seemed to know how to yell well enough that people in Japan probably heard as they roughhoused. Lily used to be a very loud person, but being unhealthily tired tended to keep her quiet.

* * *

"Mum, Fred's trying to cut off Charlie's head with his scissors, and I told him to stop, but George tackled me!" Said one of the children, running onto the kitchen. 

"It's not my fault that Percy's being a tattle-tale; I was just trying to give Charlie a surprise haircut. Besides, it didn't work." Said Fred, supposedly. One of the other children, Charlie, Lily thought, came in to the room with odd chunks of hair sticking out and parts missing.

"I didn't want a haircut, thank you very much! And, your stupid scissors did too work, look at my head!" Charlie pointed at his head.

"Oh, come on, Charlie! It's not that bad, Fred's hand just slipped because a certain someone distracted him. Look at the bright side, it'll grow back eventually!" said another child. Lily thought it was rather amusing to watch them fight; it reminded of something she had once done to her sister, Petunia, when she was little, but it had a bowl of bright orange jello instead of scissors. Orange jello showed up much brighter in Petunia's blonde hair, brighter then Lily had expected.

"Fred, stop trying to give people haircuts or I'll take away the scissors! George, stop tackling people when you disagree with something. Percy, you don't always need to come to me for every little problem. Charlie, well, watch your back when you feel people pulling on your hair." Mrs. Weasley screamed out so that the feuding would stop.

It was only then that any of the children even noticed that Lily was watching the entire thing. George, she thought, walked up to her and poked her, as if to see if she really existed. "Who are you?" he asked, looking up at Lily. Lily thought for a minute.

"I am a salesperson trying to get your family to buy chainsaws. Who are you?" Lily asked, jokingly.

The little boy obviously didn't get the joke, but a mischievous look spread across his face, anyway. "I'm George Weasley. What's a chain saw? Would it help shave someone's head?" he asked, nodding in his brothers' direction.

"Yes, it would help give someone a buzz cut, but it'd probably cut their head off at the same time. Might I suggest trying to suck it off with a vacuum?" Lily questioned, jokingly. She had learned from dating James that she was a sucker for pranksters.

George thought for a moment. "Well, that depends. What a vacuum?" he asked. Lily laughed.

"You should probably wait and let your brothers' hair grow back before you do anything else with it." George shook his head.

"I just want to keep Percy occupied. Do you think that a vacuum could suck him up entirely?" he asked. Lily laughed again.

"I'm afraid not. I think that your brothers a bit too big to fit." She told him. George turned around and walked up to Percy.

"Ha ha, you're fat!" he yelled before running away, Percy chasing after him. Lily smiled.

"Mrs. Wealsey, would you like me to help with dinner?"

"Oh, of course dear. Why don't you set Harry down with Ron in the living room? Ron's the little one."

Lily walked into the room where Percy was still chasing George for calling him fat, and Charlie was chasing Fred, who, as well, was running after the taller of them all with his scissors, obviously ready to give another one of his brothers a bad hair day.

The only one in the room that wasn't running from or for someone was a baby, about Harry's age, watching his brothers running and crashing into things. She sat Harry down nest to him and went back to the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley.

* * *

Through dinner, Lily, who was sitting next to Bill, the tall one, watched as they would argue all through dinner. Fred or George would say something insulting to Percy, who would then call for his mother, only to be replied by Charlie, who would suggest that maybe Percy just ignore them. Percy, though, would say something about not being able to ignore someone who is so loud, but, by then, Bill would get in on the conversation and tell Percy to stop being such a tight-wad and that Fred and George should shut up. There would be a silence between all of them until one of the twins came up with something else to say. In Lily's opinion, it was a never ending cycle. 

The only one seemed to be quiet at all was Ron, the baby, who didn't seem to be able to talk yet. He and Harry seemed to be getting along quite well, though, even if nothing could be said.

* * *

After dinner, Fred and George had gotten Lily to talk about the pranks she could remember James and Sirius pulling when she was in school to see if it would work on their brothers. Sadly, none of them worked, but the twins were fun to watch anyway. 

Lily was about to thank Mrs. Weasley before taking Harry home, but Mrs. Weasley pulled her back into the kitchen. "Arthur told me that you've been having a hard time bringing Harry to work with you everyday, since he has just learned to walk. Mind my asking, how come you can't leave him at home with someone else?" Lily had only just met Mrs. Weasley, and she never talked about what had happened with James, but she felt that it was building up, and she'd rather trust Mrs. Weasley with something like that then someone who knew less on the topic of comforting someone in need, so she told her.

Lily sighed. "well, I would leave him at home, but my boyfriend, Harry's father, left before I even knew about Harry, so I can't leave him with James." She said, looking down to the ground. Anyone who she had told that didn't know Lily very well looked down on Lily after she told them, but Mrs. Weasley just smiled and patted Lily's back.

"I figured something like that. It must be difficult having to chase after Harry everywhere, you can leave him here you need to. You'd get more work done if you left him here during the day, have dinner, and then take him home. Do you think that might make it make work easier?" she implied.

Lily could feel half of the weight lifting off of her shoulders. "You mean, you'd keep him feed the both of us, and keep him while I'm at work, for free?" Lily must have looked pretty desperate, because Mrs. Weasley laughed.

"Well, yes. It seems that you have a problem taking him to work, hiding him from, James? Yes, hiding him from James, and getting work done at the same time, but if you didn't have to take care of Harry during the work day, it would take care of two of those problems."

"Oh, Mrs. Weasley, I don't know, I mean, you already have to take care of your own children, I don't want to burden you…" Mrs. Wealsey interrupted. "Oh, nonsense, he won't be a burden at all! He already fits right in with Ron, and he'll get to know the others when he's older. So, would you like to leave him here?"

Well, what would you say if you were offered some time to your self if you hadn't in a year? Lily said yes, of course, but Mrs. Weasley still had to correct her, to call her Molly.

* * *

The situation worked out quite well. Harry got to make his first friends, and Lily got more work done. Getting more work done meant more money went in the account that Lily was preparing to buy a house. The apartment had always been small, but it had lately been getting unbearable. 

It had been almost a year since Lily had met the Weasley family, and they had already grown as close as family to her, including Ginny, the youngest and most recent addition to the Weasley's. Harry had gotten to go to a place that he enjoyed every day, and Lily knew that he was safe.

Harry was talking fluently, and he had past his second birthday.

* * *

Lily had finally saved enough money to buy a house for Harry and herself. They had needed to move out of the apartment before they could move into the house, so Lily's bed was recently being replaced by the couch inside the burrow. 

Lily had fallen asleep to the dripping faucet and was sleeping soundly when she woke to someone tapping her arm lightly. She rolled over to see Harry smiling up at her. "Mummy, can I ask you something?"

Lily smiled. "You already did, but go ahead." Harry crawled onto the couch next to her. "Mum, why does Ron have a dad and I don't?"

Lily sighed. "I knew this was coming." The truth was, she wasn't sure how to tell him. She knew it would come, but so soon? Lily had thought about that since the day she brought Harry home. She didn't know when or how, but she knew that she had to tell Harry the truth someday.

"You do." She said, plainly. Harry looked up at her, confused.

"I do? How come I don't know him? Does he know me?" Harry asked, quickly.

"We got into a fight before you were born and he left. No, you don't know him, and no, he doesn't know you." Harry thought about this for a minute.

"Why did you get into a fight?" Harry asked again. Lily shrugged. "I don't know, we just did." Harry frowned, and was silent for a minute.

"Will I ever get to see him? Do you think that I'll like him, or that he'll like me?" Harry questioned, curiously.

Lily started to stroke Harry's head. "I don't know, but it'd be nice if you did get to meet him some day. I think that he'd love you very much, and vice versa." Harry looked away from Lily for a minute before he spoke again.

"Does he love you?"

This almost brought tears to her eyes. She knew that she loved James; she knew that she always would, and she knew that James used to tell her the same, but that was then, and this was now. After all, he was the one that caused the break up, that had separated them both. James could have easily left Lily behind, moved on, forgotten all about her, leaving Lily nothing but a memory. He might not even remember the love they once had. Enough time had gone by; he might already be married to someone else and have a family of his own, one that he knew about, that is.

Lily heaved a big sigh. "I don't know, Harry. I just don't know." Harry nodded.

"What's his name?" Harry asked. Lily almost had to stutter saying his name.

"His name is James Potter."

**

* * *

Ok, you guys are probably thinking 'well, did that take you long enough?'** **but I've been SO busy. I really need to update on "the joys of discoveries", so you might not hear from this fic for about a week or two, but I'm still trying!**

**Julia :)  
**


	4. Something Strange

**Weeeeeeee, that chapter took forever to write! For a long time, I had so much homework that I could go nowhere near a computer for a long time, then I promised that I'd write other chapters first, but you truly seem to like this, so I made this chapter extra long (or, it seems that way). **

**Ok, I'm only going to review to replies as necessary, so here you go! **

**Apotterlover: **well, Harry does grow up with Ron, and the rest of the Weasleys', but neither of them meets Hermione till Hogwarts, I'm sorry to say.

**Aelotia: **well, that's sort of how it goes. He actually sees Harry a lot of times before he actually learns who he is, but he doesn't realize that it's him till Harry's 15. He does, however, hear of a boy named Harry Potter who looks just like him, but James only suspects it's a rumor, or a joke, or something like that. Go figure, I guess James is just having one of those moments where he can't see what people are rubbing in his face. Remus is the first person (not including Lily's friends and family, and the Weasleys') to find out about Harry (oh, and Dumbledor too. It'd be kind of hard for Him not to notice Harry, wouldn't it?)

**Runaway Spirit: **yes, I know that this doesn't deserve to be reviewed, but thank you for reviewing anyway! To answer your question, James and Harry meet (see each other from far away) when Harry is about 5, but they meet face-to-face when Harry is 15. A long time to wait, I know…

**Katie: **Yes, Lily "dies" in this, but that's not until Harry is 16, and it's only a dream. About the Voldemort thing, Harry is still in Trouble, but not as much as normal, because Wormtail is James's friend, and, since James doesn't even know where Lily is, why would Wormtail? Instead, Wormtail dies as a regular Death Eater. It takes care of him. Once Harry starts Hogwarts, that's when the trouble really starts, which you will see later.

**Sam: **HI! Yeah, I only put Joanna in it because of the whole adopting thing. She'll have to be replaced by Mad-eye Moody soon, because it just wouldn't work otherwise. I even plan on putting Ms. Lynn there later, but that won't come till later.

**Okay, if any of you have questions about the whole Voldemort thing, just read the reply for 'Katie". That should answer all of your questions. **

**Ok, if I ever say that I own that is recognized from the "Harry Potter" books, then you should probably go tell j. k. Rowling. Maybe she'll sue! Sure, I'd lose some money, but at least I'd get to meet her! **

**Hidden Lives**

Harry curled up next to Lily and fell asleep.

Lily sat up, knowing that she would never get to sleep at this point. She held Harry, stroking his hair softly. He was growing to look more and more like James as each day went by. She could already tell that he would at least have James's hair and smile.

_Why did he have to leave?_ Lily thought to herself. Almost everyday, she'd find at least one thing that reminded her of James in some way, and sometimes, the thought of him nearly drove her insane.

Had he gotten what he wanted by leaving? Or was he just like Lily, miserable and always thinking of the other? Lily doubted it. James had gotten 2 days to think it over, and it wasn't as if it was too late to come back. _He couldn't have gone wrong with that much time to think it over. _Lily thought.

'_Even if he is happy being alone, I bet he'd love Harry_' Lily thought. It was, after all, very hard not to love him. '_Then again, it's not as if I've ever seen him with children. For all I know, he might hate kids'_.

James had been staying with Sirius for almost 3 years. There were times when Sirius felt like he wanted to pull off James's head, he'd get so mad, but he only ended up feeling sorry for his heartbroken friend. Although it was James's fault that they'd broken up, the look in his eyes whenever Lily's name was mentioned was enough to make anyone miserable.

It had been almost 2 years since James had seen Lily pregnant. It had hurt him so badly; it had left a truly empty and hopeless feeling inside. He had thought about it for months, and, eventually, it had made him truly depressed, so he'd forced himself to forget about it. He thought about anything and everything but that one scene until he had completely forgotten about it. He'd known that he could never forget Lily, no matter how hard he'd tried, but living proof that she'd moved on was too much for him to handle.

Lily woke up the next morning in extreme pain. She screamed as her nose was being 'pulled off'.

She sat up, noticing Fred and George with identical terrified looks across their faces. She looked back and forth between them when she heard a growling type of noise. Lily looked down to see a gnome hanging off of her nose.

Once again, she screamed. "WHY ON EARTH DID YOU LET A GNOME BITE MY FACE!" she yelled at them.

"We didn't mean to, Lily, honestly, it's just that…" Fred started.

"Mum told us to get degnome the garden, and, well…" George continued.

"George was going to throw it when"

"Fred came up behind me, and,"

"He ended up throwing it into the house"

"Where it went flying until it landed face first on your nose,"

"And, apparently, it tried to bite your nose off."

Lily frowned at them. "So, I'm standing here, the one day that I get to sleep in, and I have to wake up early anyway because an ugly little gnome is trying to chew my face into pieces. Well, this is a lovely way to start out the day," she mumbled.

She and the twins spent the next hour trying to pry the gnomes' sharp teeth out of her skin.

Lily, Harry, and the Weasley family spent the entire day moving boxes from the apartment to the new house, and, now, Lily and Harry were unpacking. Or, rather, Lily was unpacking; Harry was opening boxes and spilling its contents onto the floor.

Harry had finished dumping the boxes of his picture books when he came across a stack of boxes that he didn't recognize. He ran his hand across the top or the first box and sneezed. These boxes had a large amount of dust covering them.

He pushed these boxes into his new room to open them. He ran back to the kitchen and grabbed the safety scissors Lily had set out for him.

After struggling for a few minuets (opening boxes with safety scissors is a very difficult thing to do, you know), Harry managed to get the first box open. He tipped the tall box onto its side and everything fell out. He searched through the numerous package peanuts before coming across something thin and long; rather like a long lamp with the shade at the end; covered in bubble wrap.

Once again, Harry struggled with the safety scissors and cut a small hole in the plastic. He retired from the cutting and ripped it all off.

Inside the bubble wrap, Harry found a large broom. It was long, and sleek, with a polished handle and well kept bristles. There were letters painted on the handle, but Harry could not read them. He looked at it, confused. Why would someone take such good care of a tool used for cleaning?

"Mummy!" Harry called. He found her in the living room, trying to rearrange the furniture.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to Harry.

"Why would someone put this in bubble wrap?" He asked, looking up at her.

Lily examined it. It was a wizards' broom, she could tell by the way it trembled when she touched it. "Well, this was a broom that was used for flying, I can tell you that much. That's why it's so well taken care of, but I also know that it's not mine. I wonder if some of our boxes got mixed up with the Weasley's things during the move."

She examined it for a minute when she noticed it. She'd been on this broom a million times, and she realized immediately why it had been covered in bubble wrap. At the end of the handle on the broom, in fine gold paint, "property of James Potter" was painted.

"Where did you get this, Harry?" she whispered.

He shrugged. "Just from a dusty, old box. There were a bunch of them," Harry said, leading Lily to his room.

In Harry's room, a huge stack of boxes were surrounded by package peanuts. Lily stood the open box upright. On the lid, she noticed, was a small note. '_Some things to remember me by_' was written in fine handwriting.

Dropping the note, tears starting to well in her eyes, Lily started to tear the boxes contents out. Harry, thinking it was a game, started throwing package peanuts in the air like confetti.

Pulling everything out of the box, Lily started sifting through the package peanuts to find what had been inside. Lily pulled up a few photo albums, a scrapbook, a video tape, and the video camera that Lily had given James for his eighteenth birthday.

While Lily started opening the other boxes, Harry started running through the house, trying to figure out how to get the broom to fly.

Inside the other boxes, Lily found James's old "Head Boy" badge, a golden snitch that was still trying to fly off the ground while covered in bubble wrap, and a small, black, oval case. Lily opened the case and pulled out a pair of black, circular glasses that had a crack through one of the lenses'. Lily smiled.

"Whose stuff is this?" Harry asked, walking back into the room.

"This was your dads' stuff. I guess he forgot to bring them when he left," she said, her voice trailing off.

"Oh," he said, sitting down next to her. "Why are those glasses cracked?" he asked.

Lily laughed. "These were the glasses that he wore when we were back at Hogwarts. He used to be very good at knowing just how to make me mad without meaning to;" she started. "And, one day, I just got so furious, that I couldn't take it, and I punched him so hard that his glasses broke."

Harry laughed before picking up the snitch. "What's this thing?" he asked, starting to take the bubble wrap off of it.

"That's a snitch. Its part of Quidditch set, and, unless I'm wrong, James always used to carry it around and show off with it." She said, smiling. After a minute, Lily stood up and started to open the other boxes.

After a while, Harry got bored and left the room while Lily continued going through James's things.

Inside the last box, she found James's two guitars in their cases', a folder of music, and a bunch of drawings that he'd done. Lily opened the folder and searched through the sheets of music until she came to a song that she knew all too well.

The heading of the sheet read 'Canon in D, Pachebel'. Lily had learned to play it on the piano when she was ten years old, when she had heard that it had been played at her parents wedding. She taught it to James to play on his guitar not to long after they moved in together, although it had taken James two months to learn it. He had been planning something behind her back when he was learning it, Lily remembered, and she found out the night he had proposed to her. Lily felt the tears falling down her cheeks.

"What are all of those squiggly things all over that paper?" Harry's voice seemed far off and distant.

"They're notes, and this is a sheet of music that I used to play for James" she whispered.

"Will you play it for me?" Harry asked her, his green eyes looking up at her, pleading like a lovesick puppy.

Lily smiled, picking him up and taking him to the living room where the old piano sat. She had not played the old piano since she and James were still living together. He would convince her to play the song, but the downstairs neighbors would come trudging up the stairs, complaining about the noise, so she'd give up. That is, until the neighbors went down the stairs and James would start playing his guitar so loud that the landlord would come to complain. They had almost been kicked out three times because of the noise, but Lily would've given anything to go back to those days. _'I guess noise isn't something I have to worry about anymore!' _She thought to herself.

Lily sat down on the piano bench, placing Harry on it next to her. She played the first lower notes slowly, and, as the song got longer, she felt Harry falling asleep beside her.

After Lily put Harry down to sleep in her room, she went back to clean up the mess that had been left in his room.

Lily picked up the boxes and cleaned up the package peanuts. Picking up the leftover things that had been unpacked, she tried shoving them into a closet when she slipped, dropping everything and falling backwards.

Trying to catch her breath, she looked around for the thing that her she slipped on. Finding nothing, she felt around on the floor for anything she that might have caused her to trip. She almost gave up hope when she finally felt something brush her hand. She ran her hand over the spot, feeling it again, but not seeing anything. She picked it up, noticing that it felt like cloth, before seeing her hand disappear, her wrist hanging in midair.

**Yeah, I know, it took me a million years to write the worlds shortest chapter, but I was so busy writing it all in a notebook that it took forever for me to edit it and transfer it to the computer! I'm really really really really sorry! Oh, and, I know, Harry seems more like a five year old instead of a two year old, but, hey! He's a wizard, maybe wizarding kids are super smart compared to muggle ones! If not, well, bare with me (I know I spelled that wrong, so sue me!) Okay, I'm in a bad mood, can you tell? **

**Okay, in my other stories, where Harry's younger, I'm comparing him to my one year old cousin who is THE CUTEST THING ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH! Okay, so, that's what everyone says about a baby that they love a lot, but, I was pretending to be a cat when we were visiting her, and I started meowing at her. After a little while, she started growling and barking at me, so we've started this little game where she does that whenever she sees me, and it is SO ADORABLE! Yes, I am in love with my baby cousin, but I doubt any of you really care, so I don't really know why I am telling you this, so I'm just going to stop now…**


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